Lifesaving device



July 21, 1942. y Y J.FRAV\NKEL 2,290,745

LIFESAVING DEVICE Filed April 8, 1941' 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR JarckBuzz/tel I BY w I L ATTORNEY I July2l, 1942. J F ANKEL 2,290,745

LIFESAVING DEVICE Filed April 8, 1941 3 Sheets-Sheet2 INVENTOR ATTORNEYJack flux/fez July2l,1942. J,FRANKEL 2,290,745

LIFESAVING DEVICE Filed April 8, 1941 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 w-rL-avb JaINVENTOR Jack Fran k'eZ BY 4m? I I I. ATTORNEY Patented July 21, 1942UNITED STATES PATENT 7 Claims.

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in a life savingdevice.

More particularly, the invention proposes a certain clamp to be used ina life saving device for persons working in elevated positions onscaffolds and the like, near a guy rope and who are provided with safetybelts.

More specifically, it is proposed to characterize each safety clamp by apair of pivotally connected jaw members for gripping said guy rope andeach jaw member having a tail portion, and a certain clampingarrangement for the tail portions to clamp the jaw members on the guyrope in selected positions.

Furthermore the invention contemplates the use of a member swivellymounted on one tail portion, and a screw rotatively abutting the othertail portion and threadedly engaging said member for clamping said jawmembers closed upon said guy rope.

Still further the invention proposes auxiliary clamp jaws associatedwith said pair of jaw members in a certain way.

For further comprehension of the invention, and of the objects andadvantages thereof, reference will be had to the following descriptionand accompanying drawings, and to the appended claims in which thevarious novel features of the invention are more particularly set forth.

In the accompanying drawings forming a material part of this disclosure:

Fig. 1 is an elevational view of a person working on a scaffold andequipped with a life saving device constructed in accordance with thisinvention.

Fig. 2 is a front view of said person and scaffold with certain partsarranged in a different position.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the safety belt for the person.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary enlarged detailed view of the upper portion ofthe safety rope.

Fig. 5 is a perspective View of the clamp and a portion of the guy ropeillustrated, per se.

Fig. 6 is an elevational view of Fig. 5.

Fig. 7 is an end View of Fig. 6. r

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary enlarged horizontal sectional view taken on theline 88 of Fig. 6. r

Fig. 9 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view taken on the line 99 ofFig. '7.

Fig. 10 is a vertical sectional viewtaken on the line Ill-40 of Fig. 9.

Fig. 11 is a fragmentary end view similar to Fig. 7 but illustrating amodified construction.

Fig. 12 is an elevational view similar to Fig. 6

but completely illustrating the form of the invention shown in Fig. 11.

Fig. 13 is an end view of Fig. 12% with the guy rope eliminated.

Fig. 14 is a fragmentary vertical sectional View taken on the line l4l4of Fig. 12.

The life saving device, in accordance With this invention, includes apulley 15 for attachment on a window sill or other support. Asillustrated in Fig. 1 the pulley I5 is mounted on a hook I6 which ismounted on the window frame or sill H. The device includes a safety belt[8 for a person, such as the man I 9 working on a scaffold 20 or otherelevated place. The safety belt [8 comprises a body engaging strap 2|provided with the usual buckle 22 by which it may be adjusted about theWaist. Side straps 23 are mounted upon the sides of the belt 22. Legengaging straps 24 are mounted upon the bottom of the side straps 23 andare provided with the usual buckles 25 by which they may be strapped tothe legs, as illustrated in Fig. 1.

A rope 26 is attached to the safety belt l8 and is extended over thepulley 15; This rope is made from several strands 21 and 28 which aresecured together at closely spaced points by strands of wire 29. Therope 26 is provided with several end strands 30, three such strands areillustrated, which are attached to the belt 2|. The three strands 30 mayextend down the back of a person, as illustrated in Fig. 1, or two ofthe strands may extend down the front while the third one extends downthe back, as illustrated in Fig. 2. This depends upon the convenience ofthe person using the device.

A fastening element 3| is mounted on the belt 2| and is connectible withvarious points along the rope 26 as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 3. Thisfastening element 3| is in the nature of a hook which may be snapped onto one of the strands of the rope 26 at a point between a pair of thewire braces 29. With this arrangement the fastening element 3! may beconnected at a suitable point with the rope as illustrated in Fig. 1.

A customary guy rope 32 must be used in conjunction with the life savingdevice. A clamp device 33 (see Figs. 1 and 5) is attached to aconvenient point on the guy rope 32 and is adapted to be released andshifted to other points, as desired. Means is provided for attaching theclamp 33 with the belt 2|. This means comprises a cable or chain 34 orother suitable attaching device. The clamp means 33 is characterized bya pair of pivotally connected jaw members 35 and 36 which are adapted togrip the guy rope 32. These jaw members have gripping serrations 31 atthose areas which engage the guy rope. The jaw members are pivotallyconnected by a pintle bolt 38. At this area the jaw members cross eachother as clearly shown in Fig. 5. Each of the jaw members is providedwith a tail portion. The jaw member 36 has a relatively large tailportion 39, while the jaw member 35 has a much smaller tail portion 4|].

A member 4| is swivelly mounted within an opening 42 formed in the tailportion 39. This member 4| is supported by screws 43 engaged through thesides of the tail portion 39 and engaging into the sides of the member 4I. Washers 44 are mounted on these screws and separate the sides of theopening 42 from the sides of the member 4| to facilitate turning orswivelling of the member 4 A screw 45 threadedly engages the member 4|and extends through a vertical elongated slot 46 (see Fig. 9) formed inthe tail portion 4|. This screw has an enlarged head 41 which abutsagainst the outer face of the material of the tail portion 4| so that itmay be turned and force the tail portions together to cause the jawmembers 35 and 36 to grip and clamp the guy rope 32. One of the tailportions, namely the tail portion 39, is provided with a lug 48 havingan opening 49 through which the said cable or chain 34 engages forsecuring the clamp means 33 to the safety belt l8.

In Figs. 11 to 14 inclusive a modified form of the invention isdisclosed which distinguishes from the prior form in the provision of anauxiliary arrangement to grip the guy rope 32 in the event that anaccident occurs and the rson with the safety belt I8 is falling and thejaw members 35 and 36 are slipping along the guy rope 32. This auxiliarymeans is characterized by auxiliary clamp jaws 50 and pivotally mountedby pintle bolts 52 upon the bottom ends of lugs 48 formed upon the tailportions of the jaw members 35 and 36 of the device.

Resilient means is provided for urging the auxiliary clamp jaws 50 and5| into open positions. This means comprises a spring 54 mounted betweenthe clamp jaws 50 and 5|. The clamp jaws 50 and 5| are also providedwith laterally extending lug portions 55 and 55' formed with openings 56through which the support cable or chain 34' may pass. The lugs 48 arealso formed with openings 49 through which the chain or cable 34' alsopasses. One of the lugs 48' is provided with a guide ring 51 for the guyrope 32. This guide ring 51 is formed from two sections, a stationarysection 58 and a movable section 59..

The sections 58 and 59 are pivotally connected by a. pintle 66. A spring6| is mounted on this pintle and acts between the two sections forresiliently urging them into a closed position. The arrangement is suchthat the section 59 may be pulled open when the guide ring 51 is engagedupon and removed from, the guy rope 32. The clamp jaws 56 and 5| areprovided with sharp downwardly extending gripping elements 63 which areadapted to dig into the guy rope 32 in an emergency.

The operation of the device is as follows:

When a person l9 wishes to change the position of the scaffold 20 it isnecessary that he first disengage the fastening element 3| from the rope26. Then the fastening element 3| may be reengaged on another portion ofthe rope 26 by pulling up a section of the rope 26. Then the screw 45must be loosened so that the jaw members 35 and 36 are loose enough toslide on the guy rope 32. The scaffold 20 is now raised or lowered.Immediately after the scaffold has been correctly positioned, the screw45 is re-engaged firmly by turning on the handle 41. This causes theclamp jaw members 35 and 36 to reclamp the guy rope 32. The fasteningelement 3| may then be readjusted.

In the modified form of the invention illustrated in Figs. 11 to 14there is an additional safety provision. The chain or cable 34 is passedthrough the openings 56 and the openings 49' and has both ends connectedwith the safety belt I8. If the scaffold falls the person will besupported against falling by the rope 26 and the fastening element 3|.But should this rope or the fastening element break, the person will nowbe supported by the clamp means 33 and the chain 34. Should the clampmeans 33 start slipping along the guy rope 32 the persons Weight willcause the auxiliary jaws 56 and 5| to close against the guy rope 32. Thegripping elements 63 will grip into the guy rope 32 and the fall of theperson will be arrested.

While I have illustrated and described the preferred embodiments of myinvention, it is to be understood that I do not limit myself to theprecise constructions herein disclosed and the right is reserved to allchanges and modifications coming within the scope of the invention asdefined in the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by United States Letters Patent is:

1. In a life saving device for persons working in an elevated positionnear a guy rope and provided with a safety belt, a clamp attached tosaid safety belt and comprising a pair of pivotally connected jawmembers for gripping said guy rope and each having a tail portion, amember swivelly mounted on one of said tail portions, and a screwrotatively abutting the other of said tail portions and threadedlyengaging said member for clamping said jaw members closed, said memberbeing pivotally supported upon screws extended inwards from the sides ofthe tail portion.

2. In a life saving device for persons working in an elevated positionnear a guy rope and provided with a safety belt, a clamp attached tosaid safety belt and comprising a pair of pivotally connected jawmembers for gripping said guy rope and each having a tail portion, amember swivelly mounted on one of said tail portions, and a screwrotatively abutting the other of said tail portions and threadedlyengaging said member for clamping said jaw members closed, said grippingjaws having gripping elements on those portions engaging the guy rope,auxiliary gripping jaws pivotally mounted upon the bottom ends of saidtail portion to grip said guy rope, a cable passing through saidauxiliary jaws and connected with said safety belt, and auxiliarygripping elements formed on said auxiliary gripping jaws for grippingsaid guy rope when the tension on said cable becomes sufiiciently greatto close said auxiliary gripping jaws to assist said first mentionedgripping elements in holding said clamp in position on said guy rope.

3. In a life saving device for persons working in an elevated positionnear a guy rope and provided with a safety belt, a clamp attached tosaid safety belt and comprising a pair of pivotally connected jawmembers for gripping said guy rope and each having a tail portion, amember swivelly mounted on one of said tail portions, and a screwrotatively abutting the other of said tail portions and threadedlyengaging said member for clamping said jaw members closed, said memberbeing located within an opening formed in said tail portion, and pintlescrews being engaged through the sides of the tail portion and engagingthe sides of said member to accomplish said swivel mounting.

4. In a life saving device for persons working in an elevated positionnear a guy rope and provided with a safety belt, a clamp attached tosaid safety belt and com-prising a pair of pivotally connected jawmembers for gripping said guy rope and each having a tail portion, amember swivelly mounted on one of said tail portions, a screw rotativelyabutting the other of said tail portions and threadedly engaging saidmember for clamping said jaw members closed, auxiliary clamp jawspivotally mounted on said tail portions, resilient means urging saidauxiliary clamp jaws open, and a cable passing through openings in saidtail portions and auxiliary clamp jaws and connected with said safetybelt.

5. In a life saving device for persons working 7 in an elevated positionnear a guy rope and provided with a safety belt, a clamp attached tosaid safety belt and comprising a pair of pivotally connected jawmembers for gripping said guy rope and each having a tail portion, amember swivelly mounted on one of said tail portions, a screw rotativelyabutting the other of said tail portions and threadedly engaging saidmember for clamping said jaw members closed, auxiliary clamp jawspivotally mounted on said tail portions, resilient means urging saidauxiliary clamp jaws open, and a cable passing through openings in saidtail portions and auxiliary clamp jaws and connected with said safetybelt, said auxiliary jaws having downwardly directed gripping elements.

6. In a life saving device for persons working in an elevated positionnear a guy rope and provided with a safety belt, a clamp attached tosaid safety belt and comprising a pair of pivotally connected jawmembers for gripping said guy rope and each having a tail portion, amember swivelly mounted on one of said tail portions, a screw rotativelyabutting the other of said tail portions and threadedly engaging saidmember for clamping said jaw members closed, auxiliary clamp jawspivotally mounted on said tail portions, resilient means urging saidauxiliary clamp jaws open, and a cable passing through openings in saidtail portions and auxiliary clamp jaws and connected with said safetybelt, said auxiliary clamp jaws being provided with laterally extendinglug portions formed with openings for a supporting cable or chain topass substantially as described.

7. A life saving devicecomprising a pulley for attachment on a windowsill or other support, a safety belt for a person working on a scaffoldor other elevated place, a rope attached to said safety belt andextended over said pulley, at fastening element mounted on said belt andconnectible with various points along said rope, a guy rope, clamp meansfor attachment at various positions on said guy rope, and means forattaching said clamp means on said belt, said clamp means comprising apair of pivotally connected jaws for gripping said guy rope, and meansfor clamping said jaws closed.

JACK FRANKEL.

